Gearing.



HARRY HOMER GGODSELL, OF LFJECHBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

GEARING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1905.

Application filed December 20, 1904. Serial No. 237,658.

T all whom/ t muy concer-11,;

Be it known that I, HARRY HoMEE GoonsELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Leechburg, in the county of Armstrong' and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Gearing, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXact description.

My invention relates to heatcontrolled gearing, and admits of general use, but is of peculiar importance in connection with furnaces and the like for the purpose of compensating the effects of expansion and contraction which otherwise tend to disturb the relative positions and properworking relations of the various movable parts.

The invention is preferably employed in connection with furnaces of the general type described in my application, Serial No. 180,190, filed July 29, 1904, and allowed November 7, 1903; but l do not limit my presentinvention to use upon furnaces of that kind.

.Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary section through a furnace equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the gearing' seen as from the right of Fig'. 1; and Fig. 3 is a View somewhat similar to Fig'. 2, but showing the shaft 22 and its accompanying parts in vertical section.

The combustion-chamber is shown at 11, the crown covering it at 5, and the wall of the furnace at 6. This wall may be of solid masonry and is provided with lateral passages 7 and longitudinal passages 8, into which the lateral passages merge. rlhe purpose of these passages is to enable the fiames and gases to penetrate the wall 6 to a considerable distance for the purpose of equalizing the distribution of heat as far as practicable. The bluing-chamber is shown at 9 and is provided with I- beams 10, which rest upon a metallic plate 11 and are secured above and below the same by means of bolts 12 13. Stuffing-boxes 14 are provided for the purpose of preventing the escape of steam from the bluingchamber. A revoluble shaft 15 passes through the bluingchamber and is provided with a chamber 16, into which projects a water tube 17, connected with a water-supply pipe 18 for the purpose of keeping the shaft 15 as cool as possible. The shaft 15, together with others of its kind, is used for passing plates into and through the bluing-chamber 9 in the manner set forth in my above-mentioned application. A trough 19 is used to receive water from the chamber 16. A post 20 is mounted upon the plate 11 and supports a revoluble shaft 22, upon which is mounted a gear 21, provided with a rim 21 and a hub 2lb, the gear, rim, and hub being preferably integral, as indicated in Fig. 3. The shaft 22 is provided with splineways 23, into which are neatly fitted splines 24, these splines being partially sunk into the hub 21D, as will be understood from Fig. 3. A washer 25 encircles the shaft 22 and is adapted to engage the hub 21", and a spiral spring 26 encircles the shaft 22 and presses upon the washer 25, another washer 27, preferably similar to the washer 25, engaging the opposite end of the spring 26. A collar 28 is fitted rigidly with splines 29, which fit neatly or loosely into the splineways 23, this collar being provided with bolts 30, which engage the washer 27 and which in turn may be set rigidly in position by the lock-nuts 31. The collar 28 is secured to the shaft by meansof a bolt 32. By means of this bolt the collar may be adjusted at any desired point upon the shaft, and by means of the bolts 30 and lock-nuts 31 the washer 27 may be trued up, as desired. A bevel-gear 35 is mounted on the shaft 15 and is meshed with the gear 21. A supporting-bracket 33, surmounted by a cap 34,constitutes a bearing for the shaft l5 and eX- tends laterally from the outermost I-beam 10.

From the above explanation of the structure the purpose of the invention may readily be seen. When the bluing-chamber 9 is filled with steam or its equivalent, as described in my allowed application above referred to, the I-beams 10 being quite long and being heated throughout theirentire lengths are thus considerably elongated, so that the shaft 15 and its supports are moved laterally a considerable fraction of an inch and except for my expansion-gearing would tend to disengage the bevel-gear 35 from the bevel-gear 21. (See Fig. 4, in which the I-beams are shown in cross-section.) This is likely to occur, especially where the furnaces are made of considerable length. On the other hand, with gearing of ordinary construction if the gears are fitted to each other when the bluing-chamber is hot the subsequent contraction due to cooling is almost certain to either displace some part of the shaft or cause some part to be torn from its fastenings. By the arrangement above described, however, the shaft 15 may move laterally to any extent necessitated by the heating or cooling of the bluing-chamber, and the gear 35 may therefore move within certain limits in a direction crossing its axis, and yet with the gearing arranged as Shown there is no chance for the bevel-gears 2l and 35 to become unmeshed or otherwise displaced. For instance, looking' at Fig. 3 (equivalent to viewing the gearing from a position at the right of Fig. l) it will be seen that the bevel-gear 85 may move either to the right or to the left and that the gear-wheel 2l will simply move in the general direction of the axis of the shaft 22, this shaft not being displaced. This is because the fiange 21 always makes Contact with the rim of the wheel 35, the tension of the spiral spring' 26 upon the washer 25 being such as to keep the bevelgears in proper meshing engagement. If now because of long use the springs 26 need tightening up, all that is necessary is to readjust the bolts 30, as above described, and to lock them in position by means of the lock-nuts 31. Occasionally the collar 28 maybe adjusted, as above described, in which event the bolts 30 are preferably moved to different positions, so as to allow them to be gradually forced in the direction of the bevel-gears 2l and 35 as the pressure of the spring 26 relaxes from continued use.

Suppose now that the gear 35 is in position upon the shaft 15 and that the gear 21 has not yet been mounted in place. The gear 21 and the other parts are loosely placed upon the shaft 22, and this latter shaft is mounted within its bearings. rfhe shaft 15 is now forced against the hub 2lb by pressure of the spring 26, which is tensioned by the washer 27, the latter being adjusted as above described. The splines 24 are loose and are pushed into position by means of the washer 25. If desired, the splines 29 may be fitted so tightly as to secure the collar 28 rigidly upon the shaft 22, and in this event the bolt 32 is not used. rlhe expansion and the contraction of the bluing-chamber or analogous mechanism to be heated and cooled now causes the gear 35 and the shaft 15 to be moved as in the ordinary construction; but the only effect of this movement is that the gear 2l moves axially within certain limits upon the shaft 22, the rotation of the gears being as perfect as if the gear 2l were rigidly fixed in position. The splines 24 are unable to work out by creeping to the left according to the view shown in Fig. 3 owing to the fact that the splineways 23 do not extend a sufficient distance to the left to enable the splines to embarrass the proper working of the gear 2l.

Having' thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-'- 1. Thecombination of a revoluble gear meml ber adapted to move in a direction crossing the axis thereof, a shaft crossing' the general direction of the axis of said revoluble member and provided with a splineway, a revoluble gear member mounted loosely upon said revoluble shaft, a spline engaging' said revoluble gear member' and also engaging said splineway, a washer engaging said lastmentioned gear member, a spiral spring encircling' said shaft and engaging said washer, another washer engaging said spiral spring, a collar encircling' said shaft, means for securing said collar in predetermined positions at will, and adjustable bolts passing through said collar and engaging the washer immediately adjacent thereto for the purpose of tensioning said spring.

2. The combination of a plurality of revoluble shafts having their axes disposed at an angle relatively to each other, means for supporting said revoluble shafts so as to allow one of them to move back and forth in ageneral direction crossing its axis but parallel with the axis of the other shaft, gears mounted upon said shafts and meshing with each other, and means for maintaining said gears in mesh.

3. The combination of apair of bevel-gears meshing together, a shaft rigidly connected with one of said bevel-gears, another shaft loosely engaging the other of said bevel-gears, a spring for tensioning said last-mentioned bevel-gear relatively to said shaft with which it is connected, and heat-controlled supporting mechanism for said first-mentioned shaft.

4. The combination of a shaft, a gear member mounted thereon, heat-controlled mechanism supporting said shaft so as to allow the latter to move in a direction lateral to its axis in consequence of expansion and contraction, a second gear member for engaging said firstmentioned gear member,a shaft loosely engaging' said second-mentioned gear member, and spring mechanism for maintaining' said gear members in mesh with each other.

5. The combination of a shaft, a revoluble gear member thereon, a second shaft crossing said first-mentioned shaft at an angle, a gear upon said second-mentioned shaft and mesh ing with said first-mentioned gear member, a spring mounted upon said secondfmentioned shaft for tensioning relatively thereto said gear member mounted thereupon, and heatcontrolled mechanism supporting one of said shafts so as to allow the same to move in a general direction lateral to its own axis.

6. The combination of a pair of revoluble shafts disposed at an angle relatively to each other, supporting-beams engaging one of said shafts and adapted to expand and contract so as to move the same laterally to its own axis, revoluble gears mounted upon said shafts respectively and meshing with each other, and means for maintaining said gear members in mesh notwithstanding the expansion and contraction of said supporting-beams.

7. The combination of a plurality of shafts, gear members upon said shafts and meshing heat so as to allow one of said gear members to undergo movement relatively to the other gear member, and means for maintaining said gear members in operative relation, thereby compensating said movement.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciiication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY HOMER GOODSELL.

Witnesses:

D. P. TROUT, J. L. FINDLEY. 

